Ten Years Gone
by Kikkoman-Writes
Summary: In which Bella gains a spine, after ten years waiting for a certain vampire. Serves him right. Not complicit with New Moon. Onesided EdwardxBella, BellaxJake.


Ten Years Gone

1813 Meyton Avenue Forks Washington. 11813. I stood in front of Bella's home. I breathed in, enjoying the scent of freesia, until I caught the scent of a dog. Two dogs. I never knew that Bella was a 'dog' person. I believed she liked cats. I knocked on the white wooden door and waited for Bella to open the door. But, instead, listening to the footsteps, a child with tanned skin opened the door, revealing a white tiled kitchen that smelled of bread and cinnamon.

"Are you one of Mommy or Daddy's friends?" He asked innocently with wide chocolate eyes, tugging at one of his blue overall straps.

"Yes," I smiled at him kindly, but concealing my inner turmoil. 'She had a kid?' "Do you know where Bella is?"

"Mom?" Bella had a child? He had her eyes and curiosity. Perhaps he was adopted, after all Bella did love me. "She fell down, so Daddy's fixing her up."

"Ah… clumsy as always." I ruffled the child's jet black hair, smiling slightly. "How old are you?"

"Seven!" The child grinned. "I'm all grown up, but Auntie Leah says that I'm still a twerp. I am not a twerp. Daddy says that I'm bigger than him when he was my age."

"Of course you are not," Leah? Wasn't she that girl from the reservation? "I think you are perfectly grown-up."

The child whooped, clinging onto my arm. He smelled like dog, but it didn't matter. He probably had a pet dog. Then Bella came into the kitchen, with her husband massaging her stiff shoulders and her eyes were closed, relaxed. "Mommy, are you alright?" The boy bounded over to Bella, pointing at the bandage on her right hand.

She laughed and hugged the child, "I'm okay, thanks to Doctor Jacob, Charlie." Then she glanced up and noticed me and her mouth formed a perfect 'O.'

"Jake, I'm sorry for this, but can you take Charlie outside?"

"Are you sure?" Jake, I noticed jealously, wrapped his arms around Bella and whispered in her ear, "He did break your heart."

"I'll be fine." She kissed him lovingly and gently placed Charlie on the ground. "Now, you two go play outside. I want to see your awesome soccer skills." She shooed them away and the two males scampered off to the backyard door. Bella smiled happily, opening the window above the sink, before turning toward me.

"You were gone for ten years." Her gloved hands were placed on her jean-covered hips. She was wearing a white polo t-shirt with a red bandana on her throat.

"Look, I'm sorry, but we could always start over."

The suggestion was prudish and a spark of her old stubbornness, leapt into her eyes. "Are you saying that after ten years with you gone, I should give up everything, just for you? Look, Edward…" She sighed, glancing out of the sunlit kitchen window, with a melancholic smile, "I'm happy now. Isn't that what you always wanted?"

"Yes." My words quickly slid over my mouth like the kids clumsily falling on the blacktop from the frost, at Forks High School. "But, you'll be happier with me than him." The last word was spoken with a sneer and Bella frowned at the cruel tone.

"Edward, I'm not that girl you used to know."

"You're still Bella." The plea was desperate, like a mountain lion trying to escape from its impending doom.

"That Bella was selfish. Only caring about herself." A couple of curses streamed from the window and she stuck her head out, yelling, "Don't curse around Charlie, Jake!"

"Sorry Bells!" The window responded. "Little bugger fell into some brambles!"

"Oh… not again." She muttered.

She took her head out carefully, making sure that she didn't injure her pale neck from the windowpane, and face me once again, eyes showing a resolve that I never seen before. But, I never really thought about her in that way. I always thought of her as if she was like a child. "This Bella," She pointed to herself, "Her family is the most important people in her life."

"What about me?"

"I loved you," I noticed the past tense, but didn't say a word, "but, I don't anymore."

"I'm here now. I can change that."

"And leave everything behind!? I waited for you. For three years in the doldrums, I waited for you. And do you know what?" I didn't say anything. "Jake, not you, stuck with me, trying to make me feel better, comforting me, and taking away that pain of heartbreak and rejection. And when he asked me to marry him, I accepted because He was there, not you, during the most difficult time of my life. Thank you very much for your non-existance."

"But—"For the first time of my life, I understood why Carlisle always said, "Hell hath a woman scorned." I couldn't speak, even to apologize or offer a weak riposte.

"Please go now," A yelp of delight came from the window. Laughter soon followed, "I don't want you here."

"I missed you," I told her fiercely, grappling for one last chance, slightly anxious of rejection. "I need you. I love you."

"I don't love you anymore." Bella looks at me, glumly with her hazelnut eyes, her hand gripping tightly on the white granite counter, "I'm sorry. I just don't."

"Bella—"

She cut me off, "I'm not Lydia anymore. I'm Elizabeth now."

* * *

This is my first time writing in first person, so I'm sorry about any flubs.

I put some Pride and Prejudice hints in this one-shot. If you find the two, you get cookies with sprinkles. :)

About the Lydia and Elizabeth parts:

Lydia is the irresponsible daughter of the Bennets who decides to elope with Wickham (a older man) and embarrasses her family, without caring about them or herself.

Elizabeth is the intelligent daughter of the Bennets who is headstrong and intelligent in the world and academics.

This is unbeta-ed, so I'm sorry for any mistakes with grammar or OOC. But this oneshot is more of a feminist outlook on Bella and her decisions.

**I might make a parody in which Edward goes to the school Bella teaches at and surprisingly fails.**

Please Read and Review.

I do not own Twilight.


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